Review Summary: Zeitgeist's Re-Release adds three excellent songs, fixes some track lineup miscues, and also proves that Zeitgeist only gets better with time.
Since Zeitgeist’s disappointing original release, most people have a basic understanding that Smashing Pumpkins are back. Whether Zeitgeist is actually Smashing Pumpkins is up for discussion-as the only people behind the recording process were Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin (who also recorded together with Zwan and Corgan’s solo project). This simple fact causes a lot of friction between Pumpkins fans-some say that this is only Zwan Part II, some say it’s a solo album, and some say it’s Smashing Pumpkins.
Me? I say it’s Smashing Pumpkins. Billy Corgan basically recorded all of Siamese Dream by himself. Siamese Dream just happens to be Corgan’s most accomplished work, as well. So, naturally, why is Zeitgeist not a Smashing Pumpkins record? The Pumpkins are Corgan, always will be and always have been. But actually looking at Zeitgeist’s original release, I was quite disappointed. No, I didn’t expect an extension of Siamese Dream, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, or MACHINA: The Machines of God. I expected a good album with some personality, all of which Zeitgeist originally lacked. Billy Corgan had officially become a washed-up superstar after Zeitgeist’s release, it seemed…no different than the Rolling Stones or the Eagles.
But wait! Yet another version of Zeitgeist has hit the shelves (only at Best Buy). Compiling all of Zeitgeist’s popular B-sides, adding a new unreleased track, and switching the track lineup around, this version of Zeitgeist was billed as a re-release. As much as I hate cheap re-releases and special editions, I’ve always said Zeitgeist would be better with Stellar and Death From Above on the album. Billy Corgan’s done just that, released an album with Stellar, Death From Above, a new track Ma Belle, and switched Neverlost’s track placement. The vocals still are terrible, but these three new tracks and a simple movement of a track has made Zeitgeist leaps and bounds better than it was before.
Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve started to see the greatness in the overuse of vocal layering, the melting guitar sounds of 7 Shades of Black, and the oddities of Pomp and Circumstance. It could just be me, but I feel, like Queen’s multiple masterpieces, the album grows on you with time. Zeitgeist had grown to a 3.5 before the re-release. Suddenly, it’s right up there with Pumpkins classics like Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie. Is that possible? The Pumpkins are a legitimate band once again? Twelve years after the last really popular Pumpkins album, Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness? Most definitely.
The album is still a straight-forward rock album, but the tracks suddenly have a bit more of a personality. Stellar, for example, explores a heavily atmospheric, cheerful tone never experimented by the inconsistent sound of the Pumpkins. Stellar sounds nothing like the Pumpkins have ever done, and pulls it off in one of the band’s best tracks. Finally, the band is doing more than 3-minute tracks led by repetitive riffs (*cough* Doomsday Clock *cough*), and innovating while sounding really, really good. Ma Belle is yet another breath of fresh air in Pumpkins’ latest sound explorations. Taking the atmospheric riffs of Stellar, Ma Belle turns into a highly addictive, atmospheric pop anthem. Death From Above takes a TheFutureEmbrace-like riff, embracing Siamese Dream-like vocals, and Adore-like depth and makes a moving, upbeat, rhythmic track that proves the ‘B-sides’ were better than most of the stuff on the album.
After sitting on the original tracks for months has opened my mind and eyes. Corgan’s vocal performances are still lacking, but suddenly the vocal layering doesn’t seem so outrageous to me. My recent re-obsession with Queen possibly has granted me a new look on Baker’s trademark vocal layering, but it honestly adds a whole level of depth and perfection to Zeitgeist’s mix. Doomsday Clock’s riffs are a bit too straight-forward and repetitive, but I’ve developed a deep appreciation for the track’s surprising depth and quality, due to it’s gritty, rough guitars and strange song structures. 7 Shades of Black has a truly excellent grungy, dark sound which sounds as if molting acid was poured on the amps, highly distorting the sound and sucking all brightness from the song, while Bring the Light makes me go down Nostalgia Avenue with a riff as cheery, upbeat, and a rhythm as addicting as Today from Siamese Dream. Or, if you're more of an Adore/MACHINA-era Pumpkins fan (like myself), you'll really enjoy For God and Country and Pomp and Circumstances. These tracks experiment to the fullest extent of the word, and push alternative rock to it's edge, relying on The Flaming Lips' like electronics or amazingly loud bass.
The album also came with a Special Edition DVD: Inside the Zeitgeist and the music videos for Tarantula and That's the Way (My Love Is). If your a Pumpkins geek like me, you'll eat up all of the delightful insight into the album's recording process, even if I don't agree that this is some of their best material recorded and that this is the best band they've been in. Corgan's appearance is also laughable, the 'Oompa Loompa outfit' is throughout much of the video, and he also speaks in his strange stoner/poetic ways, making it tough to understand. Still, it is fun to see them explain how they got the band back together and them putting the pieces of the legendary 90s band back together.
Also included in the Special Edition DVD is two music videos, Tarantula and That's the Way (My Love Is). The video for Tarantula has a psychedelic edge, but seems really boring and as if it goes absolutely nowhere. The video has a Cherub Rock type spice to it, but Corgan's atrocious outfit and the poor psychedelic effects are the downfall of the video. The song is still amazing, and provides quality enjoyment even if you can't get past the video. The video for That's the Way (My Love Is), on the other hand, awesome. They returned to their artistic music video styles, and take a dreamy Tonight, Tonight style approach showcasing a futuristic world with a bit of old-world charm which starts with Corgan meeting the band, and then at the end the band begins jamming on top of a floating platform. The video is actually quite engaging and interesting, and definitely is the best video of the two from the Zeitgeist era.
Unfortunately, as excellent as 7 Shades of Black, Stellar, Ma Belle, and Pomp and Circumstances may be, the album still is a bit repetitive, Zwan-ish at moments, and a bit desperate. The guitar layering is fairly absent as well, as outside of a few tracks like That's the Way (My Love Is), and Starz, the layering is completely relinquished in favor for shallow riffs and aggressive drumming. Chamberlin also plays like he's never before, often leading the pack, and coming off more impressive than Corgan's riffs and vocals, at times furiously drumming all by himself (United States). Still, the tracks scream that Billy’s trying his hardest to get noticed, spewing out cheesy lyrics like, “…Don’t you know we cannot die? We are Starz! We are Starz!” Basically Corgan’s trying to shove it down your throat that he’s not washed up at all, and he’s still putting out really insignificant, pointless, and horribly poetic lyrics…no better than “Despite all my rage I’m still just a rat in a cage!”.
Zeitgeist is a well-developed record with potential. Well-written songs, good intentions, and yet another style to the Pumpkins ever-changing sound has developed with Zeitgeist. While it’s easily the most straight-forward Pumpkins record, it’s also the hardest to decode, and definitely a grower. It’s not perfect, nor is it terrible. It’s tough, and a challenge altogether, and shines gloriously at moments, and falters at others (Doomsday Clock, the seemingly ‘unfinished’ Neverlost), but seems as if Corgan poured his heart into Zeitgeist, relinquishing all of the frustrations of Zwan and TheFutureEmbrace into 12, 13, or in this case, 15 tracks of pure Pumpkin bliss.
